A few months ago, while surfing the net, I found an American living in La Serena, a city that I am considering. I sent him an email, asking him about the cost of living there. The following are selected quotes from his reply, dated January 2, 2008:

"Health care is expensive in Chile."

"Take this time to come visit Chile, Argentina, and Panama. Pick the spring or the fall. We liked Mendoza when we visited there on a wine tasting trip. Better prices than Chile's and the people were more Italian but the political and legal systems are less stable than Chile or Panama."

"We think it currently takes 3,500 to 5,000 a month in spendable income to live nicely. Living expenses, minus housing costs, are mid-city US prices. Housing acquisition costs 25% of that in the US but remember, they are not US designed or insulated houses. Less in Argentina but that country restricts expat property ownership."

I've been a member of this board for about six months. From time to time, people post their cost of living experiences on this board. But, some of the information this guy gave in his email didn't quite match up with the information I've seen on this board. So:

Is health care expensive in Chile?

How well is someone living in Chile if they spend $3,500 to $5,000 USD a month on living expenses?

briloop wrote:How well is someone living in Chile if they spend $3,500 to $5,000 USD a month on living expenses?

Mate they are living like Chileonaires! .. me and the mrs can get by VERY comfortably on US$1500/month (we could get by with less but still trying to readjust my spending habits).. mind u we rent and havent bought a house.. yet.. i dont own a car and as far as health cover i dont find it expensive considering the quality of care u get vs that of the US.. the govt health system also doesnt do a bad job.. u do get to see a real doctor and get treated EVEN if ur NOT covered.. unlike the US...

Really depends on where and how you are living. Setting aside business related expenses, our cost are about 500,000 - 600,000 CLP a month for me and my wife including health insurance, a house that is much too big for us, maid, and generally enjoying life without being overly extravagant. Say, add in eating out once or twice a week with a few good bottles of wine 600,000 to 800,000 CLP a month. That is in Temuco. I would say 200,000 to 300,000 CLP a month is about as low as you could go anywhere in Chile, with perhaps the exception of living way way out in the campo where you are super self sufficient.

Health insurance is not expensive though in any way shape or form compared to the States. We pay around 70,000 CLP a month for the two of us. I could never even get health insurance in the States at any price.

I would say a good rule of thumb for Chile is to expect about 300,000 CLP per month per person as an average base cost of living. Perhaps say 400,000- 500,000 per person in the central region or more expensive cities. Everything else above that depends on what you consider essential (e.g. eating out at every meal, driving a luxury car all day, and so on). In the more rural areas, that would likely be around 200,000 CLP a month per person. These are just estimates.

Hi admin, Down here in singapore , It takes around 1.5kUSD amonth to get by and I mean for one person ,no car and a 70sqm public apartment on mortage...welcome to unbridled capitalism..and most folks here cannot even save for retirement...

" Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists."GK chesterton

dang, pressure cooker. That is why I am spending so much money. I want one of the new fangled steam powered pressure cookers.

I love my BBQ. Even in the cold rainy winters, I have a place on the side of my house that is protected from the rain. Nice to watch it rain and have a burger.

The super market near our house, Munoz is about 20 to 30% cheaper for most stuff than Jumbo or the other major national super markets. When we rented our house we started with the super market, and worked our way out to a house we liked near by. It is likely worth another easy 100,000 -150,000 pesos a month in cost of food.

I might add, being in Temuco wood is the most common way to heat a house. Total for the year for about 10 meters of wood, dry, split, and stacked ran us 180,000 CLP. I would not split 10 meters of wood for 180,000 CLP.

$3,500 to $5,000 per month? I know different people have different comfort levels or nesessity levels or whatever you want to call it. But $3,500 a month? Sheesh! I could live in a 'toney' Santiago suburb where all the TV announcers and politicians live for that amount, and live very well indeed.

Anybody, who is single and can't live on 1k a month in Chile is just hopeless. Married? Not really my dept. but 2K USD maybe? $2,500 tops. And live well. If your house is paid off you could live dirt cheap in this country.

Those people who need $3,500 a month must waste a lot of $ on frivolous crap.

"Betting against gold is the same as betting on governments. He who bets on governments and government money bets against 6000 years of recorded human history." - Charles de Gaulle

All this is good to hear. In my own situation, I must look to sustain myself on about CH$600.000 a month tops, own an apartment in Valparaíso ideally (improbable), rent a small house in the northeastern part of the conurbation more likely, all for 1.5 persons (a brother). It seems that it should be doable, thanks, all.

EE.UU., after arrival I'll ask you where to buy that good quality pressure cooker!

Our monthly budget is about $5K a month for a family of four but we get a lot of mileage for that:

- rental of a 3,000 square feet house in Reñaca 10 minutes from the beach by foot (we work from home and like space)- full time housekeeper- best private healthcare insurance money can get in Chile- private security monitoring, home insurance- private kindergarten and school for our two kids plus extra-scholar activities- $250 worth of dsl/cable/phone/mobile per month (most of it is actually a business expense)- one or two nice meals out each week (we're French so sue us!)- all the premium Argentine beef and Chilean produce we can eat, a bottle of wine from time to time (did I mention we like eating?)- car rental whenever we need it (2 days a week on average)- random piece of furniture or extra cacti and plants to pretty up our home

In other words we get an upper middle class lifestyle in a gorgeous region for the price of a middle class life in a nondescript area in Europe or the US. Because of our much lower exposure to taxation, we also end up being able to put aside thousands of dollars each month. I guess we could cut back a bit to $3.5-4K a month if we had too without changing our lifestyle too much, but I work hard for a reason. I don't think I'm wasting any of my money on "frivolous crap either" either...

The way I look at Chile is 80% of California for 25% of the cost. I'm sure you can get 90% of Oregon for 25% of the cost too, or other cheaper deals depending on your means and requirements.

While our permanent situation will be much different (no rent, etc.) our current expenses for two here in Futa (where somethings can be more expensive, some less, i.e. gasoline) here is the run-down now for monthly expenses in CLP's...

Rent 70,000 (two bedroom bungalow)Phone and Internet 30,000Electric 8-10,000Water 2,000For firewood - see Charles' post aboveFood 120,000 I might be underestimating by not including the beer trips I make.Sending letters to people who never write back 20,000

This would not include bus fare to Chaiten, or Argentina for business, or fun. Direct TV, which we don't have is about 40,000 to install, and 12,000 per month. Now, we own our own vehicle, purchased new here, which turned out to be a big surprise because of the vehicle tax which we have to pay 4 times a year at a whopping 140,000 pesos per quarter!!!!!

So that's it for Region X. Gas is right up there around $5USD a gallon. I can't remember the CLP per liter, probably it was too traumatic an experience to recall the whole gas-trip episode!

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